A handy printer for printing an image as sent from a camera phone through ultra red communication has recently been sold in the market. Such a handy printer is provided with a liquid crystal shutter as a print engine to expose a photosensitive material to light from a light source. In the liquid crystal shutter, a liquid crystal layer is enclosed in a spacing between a pair of substrates, and the spacing is formed by spherical spacers. On manufacturing the liquid crystal shutter, the liquid
crystal layer is enclosed in a cell that is formed by sealing the spacing between the pair of substrates with a sealing member. Thereafter, the pair of substrates are pressed together, so as to make the spacing between the substrates have a given uniform value. Because of a difference in heat shrinkage rate between the liquid crystal layer and the sealing material, the cell can distort during the pressing. If the cell distort, the size of the spacing becomes uneven. In order to prevent the thermal distortion, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. Hei 5-11229 suggests applying the pressure while increasing it gradually till the pressure balances out the stress of the spacers.
On the other hand, in order to save manufacturing cost for forming electrode patterns on the substrates, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2003-228054, suggests forming blocking masks, which prevent leakage of light from other areas than liquid crystal pixels, and electrode coating, which constitutes the electrode pattern, by printing organic gold paste merely on necessary parts and baking the printed paste.
Meanwhile, if the liquid crystal shutter as manufactured in the above-mentioned manner is left under such an environment that accelerates deterioration, e.g. in a temperature cycle of 20° C. to 60° C., air bubbles are generated in the liquid crystal layer because of heat expansion or heat shrinkage. The portion containing the air bubbles result in pixel defects. It has also been found that the change or deterioration in properties of the liquid crystal shutter, as caused by the thermal distortion, will be more serious when the spacing between the substrates is reduced for the sake of speeding operation of the liquid crystal shutter. For this reason, using the conventional liquid crystal shutter in the handy printer or the like, which is often used in outdoor, can remarkably lower the reliability of the article.